The first 32 bit version of Gmail for Windows 95 and NT, including a 32 bit MAPI interface to 32 bit mail-aware applications is ready. A compatible version for Windows 3.x users is also available, as is a text-based, functionally compatible version for DOS and UNIX.

Highlights of 5.0 for users:

Gmail is now delivered in both 16 bit and 32 bit versions. The two versions have the same functionality. The 16 bit version is kept up to date to satisfy Windows 3.1 users. The 32 bit version allows you to run Gmail in both Windows 95 and Windows NT native mode and interact with other 32 bit applications through MAPI.

The 32 and 16 bit versions can coexist on the same Windows PC, and either one can be used to access your mailbox and folders.

The new message tag facility allows you to attach a note to any message, and in the note put your personal text, as needed by you to remind yourself about whatever is important to you as regards this particular message. The facility is the electronic equivalent of those little pads of yellow note paper with an adhesive strip on the back. Message tags are included in the search criteria.

The search facility now supports global search which lets you search in all likely folders or simply all folders. The global search supports all the existing search modes. The result is a display of all folders where there were messages matching the search criteria, with only the selected messages displayed while in selection mode.

You can switch from folder to folder while in selection mode. While in any folder you can switch from selection mode back to the normal message display, and then back again to the selection.

External Folders are now supported in Gmail. An external folder is functionally the same as a standard folder, except that it is placed in another directory (e.g. on a diskette or the C drive). You open an external folder in the same way as a standard folder. All functions are the same, e.g. displaying, moving or deleting messages.

Rules based message processing is introduced, and replaces the previous automatic forward and reply facility. Remember that Gmail automatic processing does not require a third party program, or that Gmail is running on your PC, or even that your PC is switched on!!

The open unread folder function now lets you check private folders as well as public and group folders for unread messages. The Open Unread Folder Setup function lets you configure the folders to be checked by this function.

Highlights of 5.0 for administrators:

Gmailer for Windows is now ported to 32-bit.

On NT it can be run invisibly as a Service on a system or user account, or interactively from the desktop (see note below on Gservice). When running as an invisible service, it can be monitored via the LOGFILES, or Gmonitor (see note below on Gmonitor)

When iconized on Windows 96 or NT 4.0, Gmailer adds a small icon to the Icon Tray. The icon is animated when mail transfers are in progress.

Virus checking awareness has been added to Gmailer. This allows you to run Gmailer on a Virus protected Windows or NT platform to check all message attachments that pass through. The virus scanner should be set-up to check all files which are opened, and delete any file containing a virus. Information on the message with the virus infected attachment is logged.

Gmonitor for Windows

Gmonitor for Windows is a 32-bit Windows program which has the same functionality earlier provided by the DOS Gmonitor program. Gmonitor for Windows provides Gmail administrators with an overview of the status of all installed Gmailers, and can be configured to automatically send e-mail warnings to the Gmail Postmaster when a Gmailer unexpectedly shuts down.

Gmonitor for Windows also enables administrators to send control commands to Gmailers which are running as services on Windows NT platforms. Administrators can configure a number of remote nodes for which Gmail will keep statistics. Gmonitor for Windows lets you monitor those statistics and see if any important remote nodes have stopped responding.

Gservice for Windows NT

Gservice is a new program which allows Gmailer and other Gmail servers to run as Windows NT services on an NT server.

In addition to starting a pre-configured set of Gmailers automatically at boot time, Gservice lets you start new Gmailers in the background via GmonitorW.

GlinkWeb is an exten­sion to the Glink pro­duct fam­ily that gives web users access to main­frame ap­pli­cations from their browsers, with­out the need for addi­tio­nal soft­ware on the client workstation.